CACHE COUNTY – After nearly two decades as executive director of the Bear River Health Department, Lloyd C. Berentzen confirmed Tuesday that he is retiring from that post.
That announcement came during the regular meeting of the Cache County Council when County Executive Craig Buttars told panel members that the Bear River Board of Health was already advertising for Berentzen’s replacement and would begin interviewing applicants shortly.
Buttars said that Berentzen had originally intended to retire effective in April of this year, but those plans were disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March.
The BRHD director will now step down on April 1, 2021. Buttars said the BRHD will begin interviewing applicants for that position in mid-November and that he hopes to have the post filled by Jan. 1 to ensure a smooth transition of authority in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.
Buttars is the chairman of the Bear River Board of Health. That panel is comprised of nine elected officials and residents from Cache, Rich, and Box Elder counties. The Board of Health establishes public health policies for that tri-county area.
The Bear River Health Department is one of 13 local health departments that work to promote and protect the health of more than 3 million Utahns.
Since March, Berentzen has directed the efforts of 110 BRHD staff members who have helped the 160,000 residents of its tri-county area of responsibility cope with the coronavirus outbreak.
Berentzen joined the BRHD staff in in 1986 and served as its deputy director from 1990 to 2001. When former director Dr. John Bailey retired in 2001, state officials actively recruited Berentzen, who holds a master of business administration degree in health management, to replace him.
Berentzen is a resident of North Logan and has also served as mayor of that community since 2010.
He’s a good man. Did a great job, and I’m sorry to see him go.